It was almost 60 years ago that Ken Scott first walked into a recording studio and since then has earned a reputation as being “one of the best”.
His start, at the age of 16, came from the world renowned Abbey Road studios where he initially worked in the tape library. Within a very short time he had worked his way up to the position of recording engineer and found himself working with the elite of the popular music world. He was THE backroom boy for acts like the Beatles, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum and many more.
Ken’s desire to work with as many types of artists as possible , limited by EMI Records ownership of Abbey Road, led him to one of the fastest growing independent studios. At Trident Studios he garnered two Grammy nominations, a Cleo and millions of record sales with such artists as Elton John, George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, Mahavishnu Orchestra and America.
The need to grow led Ken to production and more artistic say in the way projects turned out. It was through his knowledge and foresight that artists like David Bowie and Supertramp became superstars, once again leading to millions of sales and still more Grammy nominations.
When Frank Zappa brought a band to Ken’s attention, Missing Persons, the decision was made to be their engineer, producer and manager. Once again expanding Ken’s area of expertise, this time looking after the bands entire career. The success continued, a first album with sales exceeding 800,000 units, sell out concerts at such places as Long Beach Arena and a performance in front of 190,000 people at the last US Festival.
Ken went on to receive still more awards with acts such as Kansas, Level 42 and Duran Duran, as well as reuniting with George Harrison. However his proudest honour came from Ken’s election to the Sound Fellowship of the APRS along with that years other recipients Quincy Jones, Mark Knopfler, Sir Paul McCartney and Hugh Padgham.
More recently Ken was a Senior Lecturer at Leeds School of Arts, he tours the world giving master classes and lecturing on his career and has co-written his biography “Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust”.
